(Newser)
–
China's space program hit two milestones today, one of the cultural variety. On the latter, its first female astronaut blasted into space, reports the BBC. Liu Yang, 33, is one of three astronauts who lifted off aboard the Shenzhou-9 capsule to spend a week in orbit at China's Tiangong space lab. Liu, a fighter pilot, will run the science experiments. As for the other milestone, this is China's first manned docking at the space lab. (Read more China stories.)